The 2024 State of the Environment (SoE) report identifies a “stable” greenhouse gas emissions trend for the five years to June 2021 and warns that stability falls far short of what is needed. The report recommends urgent and substantive action to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. Prepared by the Planning Commission with input from government agencies, environmental organisations and research institutions, the 2024 SoE report was tabled in Parliament on 17 September.

The world’s first coal power station opened in London in 1882. For the next century, coal dominated the UK’s energy supply, powering homes and industry. Even as gas began to take hold in the 1990s, coal comprised nearly half of the electricity mix into the 2010s. Over the last 14 years a surge in green energy has transformed the UK grid. As the country’s last operational coal power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar was closed on 30 September 2024, renewables are powering more than half the grid.

As my freezer slowly and silently defrosted on a Sunday filled with the buzz of chainsaws and generators, I thought about how the 40kWh Nissan Leaf (Electric Vehicle) sitting in the driveway is more than capable of running my household electrical needs, and that of the neighbours as well.